The UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs conducted the second annual quality of life study and included immigration questions for the first time this year.

They survey suggests the deportation concerns are not limited to only minority groups.

"Everybody knows somebody," said Zev Yaroslavsky of UCLA.

About 80 percent of the 1,600 people surveyed by UCLA said a friend or family member would be at a greater risk of deportation by enrolling in a government health, education or public housing program.

One man who works in the Echo Park area said he's witnessed the fear in an after-school program for children. "It just kind of spreads like wildfire," said Clyde Wellons. "You just kind of see it on everybody's face."